Greys IV - Chains

Chapter 18 - Hotel Beds

Even with Nyx's dark, the power of his second species, and his age, he still fell to Malachi and Ailech. Ailech pulled from him as Malachi advanced, and it was almost too easy, almost unfair. They were a spectacular team. Whatever connections they harbored made it near impossible for them to be out of sync. I bitterly thought how I had had that once, how my Pair and I had been, how we had worked together with one mind. And now I could barely hold myself together enough to stay conscious.

Malachi was in a good mood as we returned to the hotel. A smile on his face as he contentedly clicked the metal in his mouth to a cheery beat. He had been smiling ever since Skye, ever since she had roused and dove for him while he still stood over Nyx. He'd spun and caught her by the throat, his long fingers curling up her jaw, holding her at arms length like a rag doll as her feet dangled inches above the ground. Her tapered teeth were bared as she snapped at him, trying to claw him, to swing her small fists to reach him or gain leverage, but his arm span was longer, and she was weak in comparison to my brother.

She quickly realized it too and her black eyes melted to their pretty, clear blue, heartbreak and innocence filling them as she used every single breathless word, alluring tone, and flutter of her long eyelashes to try to save herself. It was a strange contrast from the raving animal she had looked just a second earlier, yet both seemed natural on her face. Her game, her deceit, was one of the best I had ever seen, as if she could dance between angel and demon as easily as blinking, as breathing. But I knew what she really was.

She breathlessly pleaded with Malachi, her small hands grasping his wrist, her voice breaking with practiced skill, each whimper perfectly timed, perfectly executed. But she was lying, whether I knew from some gift for judging the guilty, or simply intuition, I knew. But Malachi gave her a stupid, soft smile, drawing her body close until she was flush against him. He just barely let her tiptoes hit the floor and bent until their faces were even. Then he kissed her slow. She immediately wound her arms around his neck, her hands tangling in his long, snowy hair as if she thought she'd be spared if she showed enough enthusiasm.

He moved his lips to the side of her face and murmured something I couldn't hear, and just as her eyes widened, his arm tensed and his fist closed around her neck. I saw her throat cave as the loud crack of her spine snapping filled the air. He cast her body off of him to the floor carelessly and turned to us, a little satisfied smile firmly in place as he began tapping his bloody fingers together and strode out of the room.

As soon as we got back, Malachi made straight for the bathroom to shower. As much as he had a love for blood and clearly didn't mind being covered with it when he was out playing, or strutting through a bar full of people, he always cleaned up immediately without fail when he got back, like a habit but deeper, a compulsion. Ailech was still spotless, as his Gift didn't necessarily dirty him, in body at least. And though I could tell he had something to say, I kept my attention elsewhere, picking dried blood out from under my nails nonchalantly before flicking it to the ground.

He sighed loudly, but instead of soldiering on and forcing whatever conversation he thought was needed, he surprised me by following Malachi into the bathroom. But no one was around to see my raised eyebrows, so I flopped back on the bed and waited my turn.

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I knew who it was before the door opened. It was almost like I felt his decision as soon as he made it, knew he had decided to seek me out, even if it was only to tell me off for the night. I closed my eyes briefly to stop them from rolling. Regardless of his unique features, he was still only Human after all, and therefore often defaulted to seeing the world as Humans did. Black and white, good and bad, no layers, no degrees, no moral grays. But I lived in that gray. And though Ailech had enough flexibility to acknowledge that killing wasn't necessarily wrong, especially when it was against the kind of things I put down, my methods were still beyond him. He would never see things like I could.